Plastic is no longer just a convenient material — it is the infrastructure of modern life. From food packaging to everyday goods, humanity is deeply dependent on plastic. As an energy crisis unfolds and a documentary on microplastics makes waves, supply disruptions and health risks have become impossible to ignore. Yet plastic products are already everywhere, woven tightly into the fabric of our daily lives. What was once hailed as an alternative that would reduce the plundering of natural resources has become an environmental burden we cannot seem to shake.
Plastic has recently become a headline keyword. On one hand, rising tensions in the Middle East are rattling the oil and petrochemical supply chain, sending plastic product prices surging. On the other, the Netflix documentary The Plastic Detox has reignited debate about the harm microplastics pose to the human body. People are suddenly waking up to a stark reality: plastic has long since burrowed deep into everyday life.
Nearly everything in modern life involves plastic. Photo: Naja Bertolt Jensen／Unsplash
Why Does the Middle East Situation Have Anything to Do with Plastic?
The answer is straightforward: plastic is almost entirely a derivative of fossil fuels. According to data from the Center for International Environmental Law, more than 99% of the world's plastic comes from fossil fuels. CNN reported that on 20 March 2026, crude oil prices surged from US$67 per barrel to US$98, while benchmark natural gas prices in Asia and Europe jumped by more than 60% in tandem.
More critically, the Strait of Hormuz is not just a key oil corridor — it is the lifeline of the global petrochemical supply chain. This waterway carries approximately one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supply, and the Middle East accounts for roughly one-quarter of global polyethylene and polypropylene exports.
Taiwan also saw reports of shortages in plastic bags and other petrochemical products. The Executive Yuan promptly instructed all ministries to closely monitor import prices and supply conditions for petrochemical products, assist civilian petrochemical businesses in sourcing more overseas suppliers, and strictly crack down on price gouging — all in an effort to stabilize raw material costs and everyday prices.
This illustrates just how profoundly the plastic supply chain is shaped by global energy dynamics and geopolitics.
Why Does the Netflix Documentary Give People the Creeps?
The plastic price crisis is alarming precisely because human life has become inseparable from plastic. The Plastic Detox made many viewers realize: from the moment they wake up in the morning to the moment they fall asleep at night, they are essentially immersed in plastic.
Your day might begin something like this. You wake up, take a shower, and use personal care products containing plastic ingredients, stored in plastic bottles. You then reach for hair oil, hair wax, and deodorant — all in plastic containers. You put on clothes made from synthetic fibers (which are, in essence, plastic), and head out the door sipping water from a plastic bottle. You chew gum (also plastic), grab a sandwich wrapped in plastic packaging, and receive a receipt coated with a plastic film.
Back home, you take ingredients out of a plastic bag to cook, defrost leftovers in a plastic container in the microwave, and store the remains in the same box before washing up with a detergent that contains plastic compounds. At bedtime, you brush your teeth with a plastic toothbrush and toothpaste that also contains plastic.
There are many ways humans are hastening their own downfall — but has anyone stopped to consider that "excessive dependence on petrochemical plastics" might be one of them?
Microplastics have indeed entered the human body — a cause for heightened awareness. Photo: Sören Funk／Unsplash
Have Microplastics Really Entered the Human Body?
What we can say with certainty is that plastic has entered the human body — and far more deeply than most people imagine. Scientists have detected microplastics in human blood, semen, lungs, breast milk, bone marrow, placenta, testes, and even the brain. Sources include food, bottled water, tea bags, and the air we breathe, as well as the packaging, clothing fibers, and everyday products we handle each day.
As for the scale of harm microplastics may cause, scientific research to date suggests they could increase the risk of oxidative stress, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions. Animal studies indicate that microplastics are associated with infertility, cancer, endocrine and immune system disruption, and impaired learning and memory. Environmental toxicologist Stephanie Wright of Imperial College London has noted that while human data are still incomplete, "reducing exposure to plastic particles, including microplastics, is broadly beneficial to health."
Was Plastic Originally an "Eco-Friendly Invention"?
Interestingly, plastic did not make its debut as a "polluting villain." The first synthetic plastics of the 19th century were even tinged with a conservationist hue. At the time, ivory was not only a luxury material but also the substance used in many everyday objects, including billiard balls. The craze for billiards drove ivory demand through the roof, leading to the mass slaughter of elephants.
In 1869, John Wesley Hyatt invented Celluloid — the plastics industry's first product. Because Celluloid could mimic natural materials such as ivory and tortoiseshell, it was hailed as a savior of animals, with advertisements even proclaiming it "the material that saved elephants and sea turtles."
It was not until 1907, when Bakelite was introduced — the world's first entirely synthetic plastic — that the modern era of plastic truly began. After two world wars and rapid industrialization, plastic swept through everyday life, prized for its durability, low cost, mass producibility, and ability to replace traditional materials such as wood and metal. Over the following decades, plastic thoroughly permeated human existence, eventually transforming from a miracle material into "an omnipresent environmental problem."
Can Humans Really Live Without Plastic?
If we're being honest, the answer is: not in the short term. CNN notes that plastic is already deeply embedded in packaging, construction, automotive, and medical industries. Switching to paper, glass, or other alternatives is not only expensive but would require overhauling entire production lines. New York University economics professor Joseph Foudy has stated bluntly that viable short-term alternatives to plastic remain extremely limited.
Because plastic is so difficult to replace, policy discussions tend to focus on "which plastics can be reduced first." A Cambridge University research paper specifically singled out the microplastics found in festival glitter, decorations, and cosmetics — particles that exist purely for aesthetic appeal with no functional necessity — which are often overlooked even as regulations clamp down on single-use plastics. The paper argues that any future global plastics treaty should not merely blacklist a handful of products, but should take a more comprehensive approach, regulating plastics based on whether they are harmful, difficult to recycle, and unnecessary. Put plainly: phase out first the plastics that are expendable yet damaging to both the environment and human health.
A plastic-free life is a tall order, but you can start at home by examining which plastics you could use a little less. Photo: Sandra Harris／Unsplash
Can't Go Plastic-Free? At Least Go Plastic-Less
What about ordinary people? We can start with daily habits. When replacing kitchen utensils, for instance, opt for more natural materials — a wooden spatula, a cutting board made without glue or varnish, or switching dish soap for a natural cleaning agent.
Look carefully around you, and it is genuinely difficult to find products that contain no plastic at all. It is hard to believe that plastic was originally invented to replace scarce resources and reduce the exploitation of nature. Today, precisely because it is so convenient and so cheap, it has become humanity's hardest habit to break. The conflict in the Middle East has laid bare just how tightly plastic is bound to fossil fuels, while the documentary reminds us that plastic is far closer to the human body than most of us ever imagined. Are you willing to change your habits, and bring a little less plastic into your life?
References
- CNN, Plastic is the hidden cost of the war in Iran
- The Guardian, The Plastic Detox review – a film so terrifying you will want to change your life immediately
- The Guardian, Are microplastics really in everything – even my brain?
- Science History Institute, History and Future of Plastics
- Cambridge University Press, A call to ban non-essential microplastics used in cosmetics, festival and holiday decorations
- 中央社, 塑膠袋傳缺貨潮引關注 卓榮泰：嚴查哄抬價格
※ This article is reprinted from the Delta Electronics Foundation Low Carbon Life Blog: 〈從拯救大象到入侵人體 塑膠如何改變人類世界？〉, co-produced with BlueTrend.
